Apple's Find My iPhone app has come in handy for one Australian man, who used the app to locate his stolen car and then catch the alleged offender after remembering he had left his iPhone in the vehicle.

The Find My iPhone app shows the position of registered iOS devices including the iPhone and iPad on a map and can be used to track devices, remotely wipe devices or send alerts and messages to them. Normally used for tracking lost or stolen iPhones or iPads, in this case a Melbourne man used the tool to track down his allegedly stolen car from a petrol station in Preston, Victoria and alerted police to its location in Railton Grove, Preston.

However the alleged thief managed to return to the car before Victoria Police could corner him, and he managed to evade them before an arrest could be made.

The offender had made a bad blunder though; at this point, the iPhone was still in the stolen car and so police were able to continue tracking the man in the app as he drove to Rushall Street, Fairfield. After police cordoned off the area, the man returned to the car and made an attempt to evade police once more.

This time though, his luck had run out and instead of successfully disappearing, the man crashed into two police divisional vans, wiping out 5 metres of fencing along the way before then proceeding to crash into a telephone pole. Despite the damage caused, the man only received minor injuries and even tried to unsuccessfully outrun police.

"A 34-year-old man from Preston was arrested after a short foot pursuit, he received minor injuries as a result of the collision and is currently assisting police with their enquiries," Victoria Police said in a statement today.

It's certainly not the first incident where police have used the app to track thieves - last year numerous incidents such as this stolen SUV tracked in America were reported upon.